Hot Air has posted a clip of my appearance on “Heartland with John Kasich.” There seem to be some … mixed emotions regarding what I have to say.

Now, the assumption behind much of the discussion seems to be that I am “attacking” Evangelicals. This is a common misperception about my book, so I suppose I accept a good portion of the blame that the message has gotten garbled. But as I try to explain in my exchange with Kasich (note, it’s Kasich saying I have a problem with Evangelicals and trying to goad me into attacking them … I say no such thing), it’s not that I want to kick Evangelicals out of the party — nor is it anything even approaching that.

What I argue in the book — again, for those of you who’ve heard this too many times — is that conservatism used to be based on an idea called fusionism. Libertarians and social conservative agreed, for the most part, that small government was the goal. This wasn’t social conservatives “sitting down and shutting up.” This was a recognition on the part of social conservatives that an expanding federal government was the biggest threat to the Republic’s morals. In recent years, some, but by no means all, on the Religious Right have lost their appreciation of just how dangerous government is. So long as Republicans are in charge, they’ve assumed, they can ride the beast, so to speak.

I’m not the one causing a split between libertarians and Evangelicals (would that I had such sway). I’m not the one who campaigned on the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004 and then abandoned it in 2005. I’m not the one who campaigned on an expansion of the charitable-giving tax credit in 2000 and then threw it overboard to make room for a repeal of the estate tax. And I’m not the one doing all this while throwing away the GOP’s reputation for fiscal responsibility for a generation.

The GOP’s cynical and dysfunctional relationship with Christian conservatives well predates me — and it may outlive us all. As for big-government conservatism — well, that’s the real beast I set out to attack in the first place.

So, in closing, I haven’t spent four years — or one second — of my life “trying to purge the GOP of all Christians and everyone else who doesn’t agree with [my] pretty narrow libertarianism.” I’m a big-tent guy. I just happen to think the GOP should represent more than the South (I direct everyone to the continuing erosion of the GOP in the West this election cycle if you still doubt we have a problem out there).

I’m sorry some people see any criticism of where the GOP is going as an attempt to sabotage or divide the party. But the GOP just suffered a pretty big setback, and more may be on the way if we don’t change direction. Maybe it’s worth — I don’t know — thinking about why we are where we are.